Light in the Summer Night | DIY Recycled Candles

by liesbeth on August 20, 2018

I am burning mosquito repellent candles like nobody’s business in my backyard heaven but was getting annoyed by having to throw out all the half-finished candles. Because of the way candles burn, you just always seem left with no wick or a drowned wick and 1/3 of the wax left in a sorry, twisted shape. I decided to recycle it all and make new candles and was surprised how dead simple the process is.

By: Liesbeth

Working Time Required: 1/2 hour

Total Time Required: 6 hours (mostly candle melting and cooling time)

Costs:

wicks: $2.50

Materials and Tools Required:

old / used candles (make sure they are in the sample color family so the mixed colors will be nice. For example, white always goes. But also yellow and green can be mixed. Yellow, red and orange work together. Purple, blue and green. etc. For my candles, I used old mosquito repellent ones that were all yellow or green.

chop sticks from take-out (or any other sticks — you can even use some forks or spoons to hold up the wicks)

wicks

2 pots (the smaller one preferably being an old one you are not cooking with anymore)

Step-by-step Instructions

Fill a larger pot with water and get it to a low boil. Insert second, smaller pot inside with your used candles and wait for it all to melt.

As your wax is melting, get your pots and wicks ready. Candle wicks can be bought in craft stores.

I used some of the old candle containers I had already. These are ones I originally bought at Dollarama for $2 each (incl candle).

Cut your wicks to the right length and attach one side to the weight used on the bottom. Being the queen of re-use, I simply picked out the ones that were in my old pots and re-used them (see below). You can also do this easily without a weight. Pour a 1/2 inch layer of wax into your container and quickly center the wick tab in the wax and hold it until it won’t move. Let the wax cool a bit and then fill up the rest of the container.

Tie your wick to the chop stick (or something else that can bridge your container) or use a clip like I did. Make sure your wick is perfectly centered in the middle of your container.

Pour your wax carefully into the containers (make sure to fish out any dirty bits and pieces of old wick before you do this).

Wait for your candles to dry. I would give it a good day but it depends on the size of your candles. As your candles dry the color will change to the final one. See below for the pretty lime green I was surprised with when my yellow and green concoction firmed up.